AnnetteW Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I am trying to decide between these 2 programs, but I can't really get a good feel for the difference between them. I can't see samples of the student and teacher pages for the K12 program. I want to combine History, Literature (including beginning literary analysis) and writing. I liked the mapwork in The Story of the World AG as well as the outlining , narration, and comprehension questions that made my job as a teacher much easier. Can anyone give me an idea of what the K12 program using the TG and Student pages would be like? Also, does the online component of K12 really add a lot to the curriculum to be worth the extra $30/month? I just don't know what to do.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpklehm Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I am trying to decide between these 2 programs, but I can't really get a good feel for the difference between them. I can't see samples of the student and teacher pages for the K12 program. I want to combine History, Literature (including beginning literary analysis) and writing. I liked the mapwork in The Story of the World AG as well as the outlining , narration, and comprehension questions that made my job as a teacher much easier. Can anyone give me an idea of what the K12 program using the TG and Student pages would be like? Also, does the online component of K12 really add a lot to the curriculum to be worth the extra $30/month? I just don't know what to do.:confused: Hi Annette, I can't compare the two because I've only used K12s Human Odyssey. We used Part 1 last year and will be using Part 2 this year. I ordered both texts, both teacher pages, and both student pages last year to make sure I had them for both years. Both my son and I liked the text very much. The Teacher pages and Student pages were a little confusing at first but once I got the hang of it, they were much easier to follow. There are comprehension questions, additional reading suggestions, and online sources to supplement the text, all found in the Teacher pages. The text is, imo, thorough and easy to follow, and the questions are meant to get the student to think and make connections with the information. I found it easy to find resources at home and through the library for my ds to read, to complement/supplement the text. I did regret, however, not signing up for the online portion last year. Most of each unit test is online, so we weren't able to take advantage of those. I get the impression there is more available online, too, but I haven't been able to check it out yet. I did sign up for it, but it will start for us on Sept. 1. We will pay as we go so if we're not happy with it for some reason, we're not out much money. I like this history series very much, and plan to use it with my youngest son, as well. HTH, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangato3 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I am trying to decide between these 2 programs, but I can't really get a good feel for the difference between them. I can't see samples of the student and teacher pages for the K12 program. I want to combine History, Literature (including beginning literary analysis) and writing. I liked the mapwork in The Story of the World AG as well as the outlining , narration, and comprehension questions that made my job as a teacher much easier. Can anyone give me an idea of what the K12 program using the TG and Student pages would be like? Also, does the online component of K12 really add a lot to the curriculum to be worth the extra $30/month? I just don't know what to do.:confused: I've used both of these in the past couple of years. First I'll try to describe the K12 program, and then I'll give my personal pros and cons for both programs. The K12 student guides divide each chapter's lessons into 2 to 3 days worth of work. Each day usually involves reading from the text, completing questions about the reading on a reading guide, and completing an additional activity or two: e.g. read a source document (either online or paper) and answer questions, look closely at art of the period (online), create flashcards for important people (online), match geographical names to a map (online), etc. Occasionally, the lessons will take a few days to work on a writing project, such as a research report. The teacher guides contains copies of the student assignment sheets with all answers filled in. Chapter assessments are mostly online, except for a few essay type questions that are in the guides. History Odyssey, L. 2 (we only used for about 2 months) Pros Incorporates literature reading and writing Teaches outlining Written to the student, fairly easy to follow Incorporates mapwork Cons Uses history encyclopedia as spine - very dry My DS did not retain information from outlining the spine Literature did not provide much in the way of literary analysis instruction (as least in the portion we used) No teacher support, i.e. discussion questions, assessments, etc K12 World History (with online component) Pros Engaging textbook Reading guides (in student sheets) helped DS retain information Occasional lessons which guide student through writing a paper Interesting online lessons (Including art history, geography, variety of formats) Online assessments Teacher guides contain all answers Cons Student guides confusing to follow at first Does not assign literature Online portion pricey ($30 per month) More assignments than most families may want to use (but you can pick and choose) Does not assign outlining (only a con if this is your approach) Does not assign consistent mapwork (but geography is covered either in text or online activity). If you like the approach of History Odyssey, you may want to consider just using K12's textbook as your spine - it's really a fabulous book. In my case, the HO approach did not work for my son. The K12 approach both appealed to him and worked well for him. I scheduled in my own literature readings, taught literary terms via Figuratively Speaking and added in a writing program (IEW). HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I can't see samples of the student and teacher pages for the K12 program. Call K12 and ask for a demo account, which will give you access to the pdfs of the teacher and student pages. You can also see samples for two lessons (one from the first volume and one from the second) here: K12 samples. Scroll down to the history courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I did call K12 for a demo account and was told they no longer do that. Maybe I asked the wrong question or person? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I would agree with most of kangato3's assessment, but would point out that the spine is actually The Story of Mankind by Frederick Van Loon which is in the public domain and easily read online. We tend to combine the best of both worlds. I use the Human Odyssey texts along with the Oxford books as a spine. The Oxford books add a different take, but are not necessary unless you have an avid history reader. We realign the History Odyssey assignments to match up to the order of Human Odyssey. My son started with the online K12 class with Intermediate History A. While he enjoyed the text and some of the online components, we agreed that there was a fair amount of busy work. We also don't do all of the notebooking summaries in History Odyssey. If my son did the section's outline, I didn't ask that he go back and write a summary of the person mentioned in the outline in order to put in his notebook. We try to eliminate as many redundancies. Keep in mind at this age, that sometimes you can cement facts in the students minds better with conversation than mountains of paperwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kangato3 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 I would agree with most of kangato3's assessment, but would point out that the spine is actually The Story of Mankind by Frederick Van Loon which is in the public domain and easily read online. We tend to combine the best of both worlds. . Thank you to swimmermom3 for correcting me about The Story of Mankind. It has been a couple of years since we did History Odyssey Ancients, and I had only remembered the Kingfisher Encylopedia, which is also used. I agree with swimmermom3's approach of combining elements of different curriculums to get the best of both worlds. As I gained more experience with homeschool curriculums, I found that I could fine tune them by picking out some of the best aspects of each. I always tell friends that my first two kids are the guinea pigs, and the third one will have the perfect education! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnetteW Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 Thank-you for everyones' thoughtful answers. I'm amazed by how well other people can summarize opinions and list pros and cons. They are truly helpful. I am really impressed by both the K12 and the HO programs. I will most likely start with the K12 and use that with the sample HO pages to start as I really want to do the outlining, mapwork and notebook. (My poor 13 (soon to be 14) yo son). To make matters worse, I really like the Literature selections as well as the literary helps from The Classical House of Learning http://www.classicalhouseoflearning.com/logic.htm#Middle_Ages These literature selections look awesome. I love how it can tie in with the K12 approach of starting with the 4(?) major river valley cilizations and then progressing into the major religions. There is just too many awesome choices out there. But my main goal is to use great materials and let them inspire my son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 I did call K12 for a demo account and was told they no longer do that. Maybe I asked the wrong question or person? Really? I just did this a few weeks ago and there wasn't a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Keep in mind at this age, that sometimes you can cement facts in the students minds better with conversation than mountains of paperwork. :iagree: Well said! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 We used History Odyssey level 2 for Ancients and Middle Ages. You may read my review in this thread. If I had a do-over, I would use K12 Human Odyssey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnetteW Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thanks, Sue for your xpost. Is there History Odyssey components you would add to K12 to strengthen It? Can anyone tell me what type of writing skills K12 develops in their assignments? It seems to me (please correct me if I am mistaken), that History Odyssesy develops outlining, narration and some essay writing. All of which I believe would be usfull in developing/or continuing to develop especially during the logic stage . I do like the oral discussion component of K12. But I think the WTM skills listed above would be really helpful to do as well even if it meant cutting out some of the other activities from the K12 curriculum. Would anyone be willing to share what K12 activities they might consider non-essential or expendable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thanks, Sue for your xpost. Is there History Odyssey components you would add to K12 to strengthen It? I don't really know enough about K12 Human Odyssey. I liked the selection of additional reading in History Odyssey. I will admit that there is a strong writing component of History Odyssey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnetteW Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 I just wanted to report that K12 was more than happy to set up a Demo account for me yesterday. Not sure what it'll have in it but I'm glad to have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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